Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The U.S. attorney's office filed 14 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction against Barry Bonds on Tuesday.

The filing was first reported by ESPN's T.J. Quinn.

The counts were filed in what's known as a superseding indictment that broke up the four counts that baseball's all-time home run king was charged with in November.

The new indictment was issued in response to a prior ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who agreed with a defense motion that the initial indictment was potentially vague and ambiguous. The primary point was that the government charged several different lies in single counts, presenting potential problems for a jury.

This indictment alleges no new lies and doesn't suggest Bonds could serve additional time if found guilty. The next hearing in the case is skedded for June 6.

I remember getting in a tiff with Jon Weisman about the verb "to ankle". My position was that it was industry jargon designed to obfuscate, but he didn't seem to think so; I can understand how years of reading Variety might convince you that such stuff is normal English, but I have never, ever heard any normal, non-Industree type talk that way.